When Worlds Collide
by Hector Flores
Summary: Roddick found his daily life so boring, little did he know that some people from another planet were going to do things in his world, one would cause a horror and the other would show him the joy of working with the love of his life.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

My life has always been just me and mom, got no idea who was supposedly my father as I never met or saw a picture of the man. My life was good none the less, soon as I could I began taking odd jobs around the village. I had to help mom make ends meet, so I didn't have much time to play around with the other kids.

When I was six I took the job of cleaning around in the Item shop, the next year I took the job of folding towels, and sheets for the innkeeper, the next year after that I was off helping my uncle organize his herb pantry and symbology books. I looked putting those symbology books a lot, since I got to read them during my breaks.

My cousin did leave much to be desired though, she was more concerned about her hair, looks, and as she called it nurturing her figure. My uncle was always complaining about how she was supposed to be his successor as the village healer. I just had to tell him that maybe getting an apprentice was not something he should dismiss.

As I became nine I had been working as part timer in the weapon shop, and one day I was playing with a sword that looked awesome. The captain of the village defense force decided that he would take me under his wing, and just so that I accept he began to train me, but called it a job since I did get a regular pay.

Since I haven't told you my name is Roddick Farrance and I am the current Captain of a unit of the Village Defense force. My good friend Dorn is with me, and surprise, surprise so was his girlfriend my lazy, slacking cousin Millie. Today I had the wonderful job of staying in the office and watching out for the village. Millie loved this kind of thing a little too much in my honest opinion.

"Another wonderful, calm and peaceful day. Isn't life grand Roddick, we get a good pay and we get it when most days we do nothing at all." I sure hate that attitude of Dorn sometimes, I often think if he was turned to stone, and how he was sometimes there would be no major difference. I guess I really should have been more careful about making wishes now that I think about it.

"Oh, yes it is wonderful, spending day after day doing nothing. I am so freaking bored I sometimes find myself wishing some stupid band of bandits tries to rob our village, at least then I could actually do something."

Dorn had been my friend ever since I caught him trying to steal a piece of candy from the item shop. "I guess I can see where you are coming from, hey I never asked you but what do you think of Millie?" That was strange my friend asking me what I think about my cousin like that.

"Lazy, Undisciplined, Vain, Egotistical, Selfish, a poor symbologist, and I would highly suggest you learn how to cook or you will end up in an early grave when you taste the horrors she calls food." Dorn looked at me with his face showing that he was indeed surprised by my answer.

"What man? Do you expect me to tell you she is a wonderful, talented, caring person simply because she is my cousin? You are my best friend, and I don't lie. I don't even know what you see in her? She is a total nag and would make anyone married to her see hell before they die."

That is when I felt something behind my seat and that is when I felt someone punch me hard to the back of my head. "Roddick you jerk! If you have enough time to talk bad about me, why don't you get off your butt and do something!" Dorn was trying hard not to laugh about what he just saw, he did something I didn't expect instead.

"Cut Roddick some slack Millie, there is nothing to do around here. We are both bored stiff, and there simply is nothing for us to do, everything is calm and peaceful." Millie came up to me and made me stand from my seat. "Don't give me that, if there is nothing we can all go on a patrol of the village together!"

Both me and Dorn looked at each other and raised out right fists in the air pretending we were excited about this, "Yea, let's go on a patrol. Might as well move before we start growing moss." Millie didn't like my answer if the way the fur on her tail was any indication. "Or you could come to my house and try my latest recipe."

That was it for me I grabbed my sword and started running towards the door, Dorn still was not sure why did I feel the sudden urge to actually go on that patrol. "Come on Dorn, we got to do this patrol, or do you have a death wish, cause if you eat her cooking I am sure it would be granted. Hell I wouldn't feed bandits the gunk she calls food."

She was angry with me from that moment on, I visited all those places I had jobs growing up. The item merchant actually did me a favor by telling me sometimes when he got fresh ingredients, and even gave my mom a discount, well it is what he called an employee discount but it still was nice of him to do.

As we went around I met plenty of the people I worked for or helped before, it was sort of a walk through memory lane for me, and surprisingly relaxing. At least it would be until a group of strangely dressed people started to make trouble and scaring people.

"These idiots think our village in defenseless, come on guys let's show them how wrong they are!" I don't know why Millie usually gets fired up when she sees this sort of thing, it's not like she has not seen idiot bandits do this before.

"Come on cheer up Roddick, maybe these losers will give us a good fight." Looking at these idiots I would be surprised if they knew which side of the sword to hold, let's face it these guys acted like absolute brain dead fools.

We took turns and Millie did her best to provide support while I and Dorn took care of one group of bandits after another. This was a good fight? I had tougher fights peeling garlic for mom when I was five years old.

The boss was a large, fat and if the cap he was wearing was any indication he was also bald. "What the hell are you guys playing at? Taking it easy on them because they are some brats? How can you let a trio of kids beat us so badly?"

I had enough of what the boss of this bunch of idiots was saying about my friends. "Hey listen up and listen good, I don't care who you think you are, but to me you are no different than the last idiotic bandit gang. We are members of this Village's defense force. Now why don't you shut your traps and come and fight us yourself or are you too cowardly to fight yourself?"

I saw the guy run towards me and he tried to kill me with his large club, where did these idiots learn to fight, his fighting style was full of openings, Dorn took care of the other two bandits that came running towards us and Millie did her best to provide support. It was until the boss bandit decided to insult my mother that I became so mad that I stopped holding back.

I reversed the grip on my blade and just as he was about to try and strike me with his club, I used my Wind cutter skill. It was a skill I learned from the leader of the defense force, it was supposedly use my symbology and give my sword an extra cutting edge that could cut or be sent for a distance attack.

The idiot boss bandit didn't understand what happened till his left hand came clean off his arm and dropped on the ground. I kept attacking next his right ear was cut off, then his nose, and then his left eye. I kept using my skill and attacking, until I felt someone hold my arm trying to get me to stop. "Roddick he is dead already, you don't need to shred his corpse! Come one Roddick the fight is over, please stop you are scaring me."

I looked at Dorn and he backed off, he seem to be trembling as he walked away from me. "You know that I lose control when I become really angry Dorn, and nothing upsets me more than an idiot who insults the people I care about. Sorry to scare you both, but I sort of lost it when he insulted my mother. As for the fighting, these bandits were just pathetic."

I walked off as Millie and Dorn looked as I began to gather the corpses of the bandits by dragging the bodies outside of the village walls, one hand and a quick set of words and with a quick slash my sword sent a wave of flames burning the corpses to ashes, and only the corpses.

I walked back towards where I was before the idiots tried to ransack our village, I walked into our forces' office and sat down on my usual seat. I sat there reading a book on symbology as the head of the defense forces came with the other members. They had gone on patrol the surrounding area. "So Roddick did anything happen while we were on patrol?"

I put the book by in the bookshelf and looked at our leader, he was a kindly old man, but I knew he was a master using his sword. I always admired the level of skill and strength of his attacks. "Not really chief, just some trouble with some idiot bandits. Nothing really worth mentioning about."

Dorn coughed and looked he had almost choked on something, "Nothing to say? Roddick went all bezerker on the bandit boss, he mutilated his corpse and then he dragged his and the bodies of his men outside the village wall. He then used his symbology to cremate the corpses to ash."

The leader looked at Dorn and the still scared look on Millie's face. "So nothing out of the ordinary happened. Good decision in using fire to cremate the bodies Roddick, I would expect nothing less from a Captain in the village defense force. Since you, Dorn and Millie did such a wonderful job you three can take this weekend off."

As night came Dorn and Millie thought it would be best if they checked to see if my mother was alright, at least that is what they told me. Just as mom brought us something to eat, I knew that what they told me had been an excuse but I didn't know the reason.

"Thank you very much for the food ma'am. I guess my cousin is not exaggerating when he always says that there is not better cook in the entire village." Mom laughed as Millie said that, what's the deal? Millie and Dorn eat sometimes here, they never compliment my mother's cooking before.

"You know I don't know what is up with you Dorn, for some time now you don't look relaxed at all. Things are quite, you should be happy things are peaceful, but you been brooding about something for weeks now."

Mom looked at me and began shaking her head as she finished hearing my friend say that, "Don't you worry Dorn, it's just that my son is suffering from the same thing his dad was. Can't really help feeling the way he does, when things are peaceful the men in our family begin to worry, and if that feeling goes on for too long they begin to brood."

"His father used to say some weird things back when Roddick was small, things like Peace is a lie, That the feeling of peace we got was just the prelude to something else happening. The calm before the storm he used to call it. I didn't believe him, and one day Roddick's father ended up dying when that storm hit the village all those years ago."

Millie began to shake her head, "So my uncle also was as paranoid as my cousin. Honestly it's like they live to expect some major disaster. When the disaster doesn't happen they brood like there is no tomorrow. Come on Roddick, we got the weekend off, why don't you go to the mountain and kill a few dozen fellworms, that always cheer you up."


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

I know I should be happy, I got recognized for doing a good job, I saved the lives of my village and made my mother proud. I should be happy about having Millie and Dorn fight by my side, I should be happy that the people of the village trust me they way they do, and I should be happy seeing the smiles on the faces of the children of my village.

I know this, and I know that I should accept this. Deep down inside me however I can't help but think I could do more, that focusing on just my village I am abandoning much more people to suffer just I let myself dwell in my comfort zone.

There was something in me that was screaming for me to think bigger, to no longer be satisfied with saving one village, but to think of higher goals, to be able to look at Evil in the eye and laugh my head off at how unfazed I am.

I got dressed and walked over to my mother, she was apparently cooking something for later, but she seemed to be having a hard time with a particularly hard vegetable. I took the vegetables from the table and began cutting them up, and doing what she was having a hard time to do. That is when she noticed me.

"Roddick, did you sleep well? What are you doing son? You need to go and report to the defense force's office." I knew that mom just was being considerate but I was not the type to leave when my mother was having a hard time if I could help I would.

"Not a chance mother, you didn't sleep well last night. You must still be tried, now don't you worry I will have these veggies cut, diced and ready for what you are cooking in no time. No way I would not help my mother."

She was smiling as I kept on doing the prep work for what she planned to cook. I guess this was the day of the meeting the village mothers got together to discuss cooking recipes. It was a pretty important day for them since they would discuss everything from food preparation to nutritional balance.

"Ok, mom I am done with the veggies. You can take it from here. I am off to my work, but next time mom does tell me when you need help, I don't want you to get hurt unnecessarily." I left and I heard my mother laugh as I walked out the front door. I walked through the village and every time I saw a villager I saw him or her smile as they looked at me.

Millie and Dorn were arguing again, and again they were doing it right in front of the gate that leads to the defense forces office. I still don't see why Dorn is so interested in my cousin. I guess he is just into a woman that tries to control everything he does. Millie may not be the most disciplined symbologist, but she sure wanted things done her way.

As I walked up to them I saw something that didn't seem quite right, the office window. You could always see the members of the Defense Force through the window, but for some odd reason, they were not as many as usual. Something was going on and it must be bad if the number of members was any indication.

"Morning, Millie, Dorn, now if you two will excuse me I need to ask something to our esteemed leader. Don't mind me, keep doing what you are doing, this will not take long." I walked into the office and that was when the leader of our defense forces saw me. He was a little confused if the look on his face told me anything.

"Roddick, didn't I tell you to take the weekend off? It's Sunday you know. You still have today off."

I walked towards his desk and saw the way the office looked, it looked like someone had been spending all night trying to solve a problem, and not having any luck solving it.

"Look, old man, you can't expect me to sit around when something bad is happening. I can tell that many of our members are either sick or incapacitated. So save us some time and tell us what is going on. I walked over to Millie's place and notice her father was also nowhere to be seen. It looks like he been gone for a whole day."

He laughed and I could tell this was not a happy laughter, it was the laughter of someone who was so unhappy and frustrated that he couldn't help but to laugh at his own despair. "Can't keep anything from you now can I Roddick. You are right, there is a strange disease spreading in the village up north, and we haven't heard a word from our healer. Things are indeed bad, which is why I asked you to take the weekend off."

"I asked you to take the weekend off because several members are already infected, and we needed to quarantine them to stop the spread of the illness to other members. Out of the five hundred members, we only have twenty left who are not ill. We don't know what we can do to stop the illness, and our best healer has not found a way to cure it."

Millie must have come into the office during our little talk, how in the world did she sneak without us hearing her I will never be able to figure it out, but she did say something that caught us by surprise, "Why don't we go and find that herb on the top of the nearby mountain. That thing was supposed to be a miracle cure isn't it?"

Our leader finally put his foot down, "Look you have today off and therefore you are not going to go on a recon mission for the defense force until you are back on active duty. Look, guys, I am sure our healer will figure this out by the time your time off ends. He is the best healer this side of the continent. Come on Millie, have a little faith in your dad's abilities."

We reluctantly decided to listen to our leader and I did the only thing I could do. Do odd jobs around the village and help my mother. I went to sleep and I felt so frustrated that I didn't even have dinner. I had a horrible nightmare that everyone in the entire village turned into stone statues. A black hand came out of nowhere and began taking the statues up in the air and smashing them to pieces till they were nothing more than a huge pile of bricks.

I woke up the next morning covered in sweat and shivering like I been caught in a snow storm. I knew that today was a day that I could go back to work, and so I jumped off my bed, got dressed, kissed my mother on the cheek and went running out the front door. I needed to know if there was any news on a possible cure to the plague.

As soon as I reach out the front door I saw Millie and Dorn looking up in the air, a carrier pigeon was coming to deliver a piece of mail, but there was something wrong with that pigeon. It looked weak and wobbly as it landed on Dorn's shoulder and he took the letter off the bird.

He began reading the letter and his face turned pale. "Not good, the plague is impossible to cure, the village has been quarantined and Millie your father said that he caught the disease and will not be able to make it. This sickness is spread by touch, and it takes only a few hours to incubate, the disease starts petrifying the body's internal organs a day after infection. The sick become a solid stone statue in just a couple of days."

That is when Millie looked at us and then turned around and went running towards the village exit. We both knew what she was going to do, and where she was going. We had to at least catch her before she ended up doing something stupid!

Dorn and I went fought off the weak monsters on the way and we were trying hard not to fall behind as we followed Millie, I didn't know Millie could run this fast.

Sure enough, as we got to the village that was just north of ours, at the foot of a large mountain, we knew where she would head and so we kept following her, she must have been too distracted or frantic since she didn't even seem to notice us.

As we got into the house that Millie's father was using while he stayed to study the illness, Millie tried to run towards her father, I had to act fast and launch myself against her and caught her in my arms. "Let go of me Roddick, I have to be with daddy. There must be something I can do to help my daddy! I told you, Roddick, let go of me I swear I will hurt you if you don't."

My uncle smiled at me and nodded his head, "Thank you, Roddick, had you not done that my foolish daughter would have been infected too. Thank you for saving my impulsive daughter. Please, Roddick, take her back to the village and tell your leader what I said in that letter. People need to avoid this village or touching anything that came from it."

As I saw she understood she fell on the ground, "What kind of a world we live in when I can't even offer comfort or care to my own father when he is sick." Millie broke down in tears and I did my best to make my cousin feel better.

In the end, we did what my uncle told me to do, we told the leader what the disease caused and how to avoid getting infected. I was just about to go to sleep when I heard Millie screaming my name over and over again, well at least things are boring.

"Next time I make a wish I should really keep my trap shut. What could possibly be wrong for Millie to scream my name like that." I went and got dressed and began walking towards the front door, my mom was half awake and as she came out of her bedroom door. "Don't worry mom, I will see what is wrong with her. Go back to sleep, you must be dead tired after all the things you did around here."

I helped cover mom as she went back to sleep and went out of my house. "Roddick what is your major problem! Dorn is in pain and you are taking your sweet time in coming out!" We both rushed to find Dorn looking just fine, well he was sweating a little bit, but considering how much running we did today it wouldn't be that strange.

"Roddick finally thanks for coming, buddy! Millie was trying to sneak out of the village and go and find that herb that grows on the top of Mount Xerox. I guess my little act got her to get you to come out and help me with that stubborn girlfriend of mine. Come on buddy, help me out. If we don't go with her to get that herb she is liable to try and sneak out on her own."

I looked at Millie who was scratching the back of her head, and I knew my friend was not kidding. "Millie you should be ashamed of yourself. We are family if you needed to help you should come to me. We are also members of the same squadron in the defense force. I could have you face a court martial for insubordination you know!"

Dorn was laughing as I said that, "Oh, Come now Captain, you know how she is. She is such a daddy's girl it's almost sad. Let's not waste any more time and let us get that herb."

The mountain had a large path carved on it and it was the favorite spot for one particularly nasty creature. The fellworm was one creature that loved to lay their eggs on the bodies of their victims. The eggs hatched and the creature's young would steal their nutritional needs from the bodies of the victim.

As we fought through the horde of fellworms I knew that we needed to get rid of the eggs that these things planted on us. "Ok, we been fighting these things for a while, check yourselves for eggs. You don't want them on you when they hatch."

We began to look except I saw Dorn having a hard time doing so, Millie being his girlfriend she decided to try and help him out, I thought it was a nice gesture until Dorn jumped away from her screaming for her not to touch him. That made me suspicious about the real reason we were getting this supposed miracle herb.

"Ok, Dorn time to fess up. I know that we aren't getting this herb just to help my uncle. So tell me what is the real deal here? Why did you feel the need to help Millie get this herb?" Dorn looked at us as his ears gotten flat on his head, his tail almost was recoiled. This was a clear sign of regret.

"I am not lying when I said that I wanted to help your uncle Roddick, it's just that I am also infected. I must have gotten infected when that carrier pigeon touched me. I only been infected for a day, so I should be fine if we get that herb, and if we test it out on me it will be less stress on you and Millie. Sorry, I kept that hidden but I didn't want you two to worry about me."


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

Just as we reached the top we saw that the top had quite a bit of the supposed herb, and just as Millie was about to pick some of it, a light flashed and I had to cover my eyes since it was simply too bright. That is when I heard two voices that caught me by surprise. "Lieutenant, I believe you said that the area was clear. I do believe we got some people here."

I regained my vision and that is when I first saw her, her blonde hair, her eyes, her lips she was the most beautiful woman I saw in my life. Ok, maybe my mother was just as pretty but still she did look very beautiful, "Sorry, Sir. The scanners said that this area was uninhabited. Since they saw us we must at the very least introduce ourselves."

The man had black hair, cut short and they both were wearing some of the strangest clothes I ever was seen. "My name is Ronix J Kenny, and this is my second in command Ilia Silvestri. We don't want to alarm you or cause you to misunderstand. We mean you no harm."

Dorn just looked at him and I could see he didn't believe a word about not meaning us any harm. "Look you want the herb too? There is plenty for both of us. Just let us get some of it, so we can try and cure a local plague that just been spreading." I guess Millie decided that the only reason these two were here at all was for the same reason as we were.

"Actually that is why we came, sorry to tell you this but this herb will not cure the illness that is spreading on this planet. Please, believe me, we came to help you and your planet find a cure for this sickness."

Dorn looked at Ilia and I just knew that he would say something I would later regret him saying. "Are you Gods? Is that why you appeared out of nowhere? Is that why you travel in a light?" I couldn't believe what Dorn was saying, that made no sense at all.

"Dorn, they are not gods. I mean for crying out loud if they were gods they could snap their fingers and all our problems would be solved in less time that it takes you to wink. They are no doubt normal people just like us, and having heard that we were suffering from an illness they came to help us."

Ilia smiled as I finished saying that, "Actually you are more right than your friends may believe. We are normal people like you said except for two things, our culture is much more advanced that you are at the moment, and the other is we came from another planet. We don't have tails like your kind."

She turned around and sure enough she didn't have a tail like someone like us. "I don't know, I see a fine piece of tail right in front of me." That somehow made me want to hit Dorn for saying that, I don't know why I felt like that but my cousin beat me to it and slapped him hard across his face.

"That is a rude comment Dorn, you should know better than to treat a young lady as a piece of meat!" This made Ronix, Illia and I laugh as we heard Millie tell him that after the slap she gave him. Her hand print was still visible on his cheek.

"What I would like to offer you two is for you two to come aboard our ship, there our doctor can examine your friend and he might come up with a cure for your illness. I do need to ask you to close your eyes."

We had nothing to lose and Dorn was already infected, we all nodded our head as we closed our eyes. As we opened our eyes only after a few seconds we saw something we have never seen before. "As you can see our level of technology is far more advanced, come let us take your friend to our doctor."

Just as we began to walk towards the exit and the door opened Dorn fell on his knees touching his chest. "Don't touch him, the illness spreads through touch." I guess Millie wanted to warn these two nice people about it, but somehow I get the feeling she also didn't want Illia to touch Dorn at all.

The floor moved on its own, and the inside looked like no building or ship I ever was seen. Dorn was placed inside a strange tube by men wearing strangest clothing we have ever seen. A few moments later, we looked at a bright light ring moved up and down on Dorn's body. As the light turned off we looked at a middle-aged man reading a piece of paper that came from the wall.

"I was afraid this was going to happen, I am afraid that this plague is impossible to cure using Earth knowledge." Millie ran where the man was and grabbed his what I guess is his shirt. "You people said that you're more advanced than we didn't you? How can you say the disease Dorn has in incurable?"

The person waited till Millie let go of him, "Miss, the reason I can say this plague is not curable is because we are more advanced than your people are. The thing making him sick is in a state of constant change, even if I make a vaccine the vaccine would be useless in a matter of minutes. If we could somehow find the host or original carrier of this disease then maybe we might be able to cure it, but it will be too late for your friend."

"Don't lose hope, as soon as we find the cure we can still use it and restore all your people that had turned to stone. I am sorry but as far as I can tell you friend only has a couple of hours before he completely petrifies."

Just like I expected of her, she broke down and came to sit on the floor, crying her heart out. I know my friend is her boyfriend, and they been pretty much a couple since as long as I can remember, but this even caught me by surprise.

"Captain, I know this might be a little selfish, but if I am to die. I rather die in my own bed. There is something I own that I want to give to Millie. It's something very important to me." I knew what Dorn was talking about, but somehow I didn't think that they would let us go after seeing all these wonders we have seen.

If we told people they could either consider us insane at worst and liars at best. "You don't need to worry Ronix, we will go with Illia here, she can make certain we are back. For their sake please grant their request."

Ronix smiled at me and so did Ilia, "You could tell I was not going to let you two go back after seeing this, that is impressive, but I need to correct Dorn. You are not going to die, you will just go to sleep for a long time, but after we get the blood of the person or animal this illness came from and with the vaccine we will make, you will be back to normal."

"Very well, Illia please make sure to transport him to his bed, once you return be sure to give them a tour of the ship. It's not like they will influence their own world if they see more of our technology."

Just as I came to appear and saw Dorn on his bed I felt a sudden anger, a sudden sadness, that could not be held back anymore. The only thing that kept me able to restrain myself was my cousin's tears. I walked closer to his bed and looked at him, and I couldn't stay quiet.

"Why did you wait so much to tell us you were ill? We are your friends, your family, why did you keep quiet about the pain?" Dorn always faced life with humor, it was his thing. I know that he must have a reason but I needed to hear it, I needed to hear it because I desperately wanted to hear something that made me stop feeling like I failed my best friend.

"Funny thing, Roddick. I was having so much fun being with you both that I forgot. I guess deep down I didn't want to worry both of you. Do me a favor buddy, get that music box that is the one on my nightstand. Give it to Millie please."

I could not understand why he wanted to do this, "I can't take this, it was the only thing you had from your sister." Millie was shocked as I was that he wanted to give us the only memento he had of his long dead sister. The woman who practically raised him.

"In my family, we passed down that music box, the men in my family give it to the person we love as a means to propose to that person. I might as well do it now, I guess I will be sleeping for a long time and I might not have the chance later. I love you, Millie and I always have."

Just as I heard my best friend say those words his skin lost all color and where my smiling friend was there was now a stone statue. Millie broke down in tears once more as she hugged the music box to her chest. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I realized that it was the hand of Illia offering me what I needed the most at the time, her support.

"Roddick I know this is sad, but we need to go now. We need to tell the other's what has happened here. We need to find who spread this illness in this world and why. So come on Roddick let's go we need to find a cure for him and much more and we can't do it if we just sit here."

As soon as we got on the ship we received an amazing tour of the ship. The things I saw I once thought it was things that were in the realm of fantasy, but there they were. The thing that could make anything and anywhere you wanted appear around you, so real you could mistake it for real. The device that with a simple word would make the food you wanted.

The floor that went up and down with a simple push of blinking light, I know that I should not be enjoying this, but in some way this was the moment that I realized that Ilia was not just doing what Ronix told her, she was trying to get our minds off my friend and to think about anything else. That was when I think I first realized how sweet, kind and caring this person was.

I guess this was the moment I began to actually fall in love with the woman that travel across the stars.

We heard an awful siren and we somehow knew something was wrong. _'Unidentified life form detected in the transporter room, Repeat, Unidentified hostile life form detected in the transporter room.'_

We all got on what she called a lift and went directly to the room we can into the ship. There on the transporter room was three full grown fellworms. I took hold of my sword and began sending one wind cutter after another, one of them got a lucky strike and bite my arm before I stabbed it through its head.

I heard a gasping sound and I looked at Ilia who looked surprised for some reason. "It disappeared! The second you bleed a little it just vanished!"

Millie was confused and she walked over the dead fellworm. "What are you talking about it is right here! It is right where I am pointing at!"

That was when she looked like an idea came to her and she ran out of the room, we had to run after her. "So this creature is from your world? How in the world did it come to be aboard our ship." Ilia asked me as we stood on the moving floor.

"They are called fellworms, and I guess one of them laid some eggs on one of us. When we came aboard the ship they probably fell off and grew on the room's floor. What do you mean it vanished? We could see it as clear as day."

Illia looked at us and then she began to rub her chin with her right hand. "I mean it literally vanished, I could see where you were pointing at, but I could no longer see that creature. I think this might help us learn why would anyone spread that illness to your world. At least I hope the doctor can find something to that effect."

We walked into the same room where we met the man who had told us about Dorn's condition and how severe his condition was. "Doctor, is there anything different between the people of planet Roak and ourselves?"

The man looked at her and then at us, "Physiologically speaking there is little difference between humans and fellpool. We are systematically the same, and we even share much of the same biology, even down to the reproductive sense. I might even say it is possible for a human and a fellpool to have a child together."

"There is one key difference however and that is the blood. In humans hemoglobin the main element in our hemoglobin is iron, the blood of fellpool the main element in their hemoglobin is copper. That is the only biological, and systematic difference between our species and theirs."

Illia began to nod her head, "Doctor I need you to find any possible substance that may be produced by petrifying fellpool blood. Something that could not be found otherwise." I was looking at the doctor's face lose all color for a second, I guess this caught him by surprise.

"You have any idea how many combinations and variable formula that could entail! Damn it Illia, I am a doctor not a biochemist." Illia looked at him with a great deal of concern and I could see that she was thinking hard about this.

"Doctor I know I am asking something our of your comfort zone, but this may be the only way that we can make sense to this senseless tragedy or should I say cruel act. Please Doctor, this could help us find why this happened in the first place, and more importantly why would anyone spread this illness in the first place."

I saw the doctor scratch the back of his head, "Alright, I get it. I will try my best to find what could be made from petrified fellpool blood. You should go and report to the captain, he must want your report about this, and to tell our guests where this ship is headed."


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

As we went through the bridge of the ship Ilia tried her best to get my mind off things, and she began telling all these different commands a Captain could give to the crew in different situations, everything from going to combat readiness, to exploration commands.

Millie found this all very boring if her constant yawning was any indication. I, on the other hand, began to see similarities between maritime practices and what she was talking about, these commands were no different than one would give if the person was in charge of a combat vessel out to sea. I had to admit that one of my fondest reading materials when I was a kid, were the old pirate legends and stories.

As we walked into the bridge I saw that everyone was focused, well everyone except my cousin it would seem. She was more interested in how the stars looked, and she kept calling it pretty. Dazzling lights and different things that resembled cloud formations that were somehow visible even in the deep darkness of the space.

As we reached the one that looked like a mostly blue sphere and one that looked like a ball of snow I saw something that seemed out of the ordinary, something that was headed our way and fast. I don't know why I did it, but I felt I needed to do something or something bad was about to happen.

I went to a nearby button that thanks to what she told me I knew it was the ship intercom. "All hands on deck, I repeat all hand on deck, battle stations, this is not a drill. Enter battle stations and prepare to enter into combat. Let's send these scurvy dogs to a watery grave me hearties."

Ronix just walked over to me and decided to hit me on my head. "Rodick why are you calling for battle stations? Where is this supposed enemy we are going to send to the hear after?"

I decided to point the obvious, "Are you blind Ronix? That this is coming straight for us! If you don't act they will kill us. I am telling you that thing is our enemy." Ronix looked at me like I was insane except Millie was trying to figure what the heck that thing was in the first place.

A few minutes later the ship was almost right in front of us. 'Damn it if they open fire we are dead! We need to attack or we are dead!' A woman sitting right next to me looked at Ronix and looked quite perturbed.

"Captain we have a communication from a Lezonian ship. They are saying that they come in peace. That they have come in peace, they keep repeating this over and over. The communication read out states that they will lower their defenses if we assure them that we will not attack."

Ronix looked at her and told her to tell the Lezonians that his ship had no intention of doing anything hostile. As soon as he said that I heard Ilia and Ronix gasp from sheer shock. "Where in the world did that ship come from? How was it that we couldn't see it before?"

I looked at Ronix and then at Ilia. "What are you two talking about I been able to see it for nearly an hour. I warned you that this thing was coming towards us but you didn't believe me." That is when Ilia smacked her fist against her open palm.

"I see it's just like when it happened to the fellworm. You guys can see it because of your different blood chemistry, but I could not. I got it, I know why they infected the Planet Roak. They did it in order to create a new substance. They found that petrifying fellpool blood they can create invisible matter."

Millie looked at me and then at Ronix, "You mean to tell me they turned my people into statue just so they can make that monstrosity? That is worse treatment than people give dogs!" I could understand her outrage and Ilia was no different in that opinion if the way she was clenching her fist told me anything.

Ronix was not a ship Captain for nothing, and I knew that he would not let his emotions get the better of him, even though secretly I wished that he did let his anger get the better of him. I also knew we needed information and we could not obtain that information from a pile of corpses.

We landed on the place Ilia called a space station. Space station my eye, this thing was bigger than my entire village and the one up north of it put together. I decided to keep quiet and hear what these people had to say, before deciding to tell them my thoughts on the matter.

We were seated in a large room, the middle of the room had a massive table and the chief of the station was seated at the head of the table it seems, to keep us from ripping the Lezonians a new air hole since they still thought of us as primitive savages. That is what he told everyone in the room, not with those exact words but it was not that hard to decipher the true meaning of his words.

"Let me begin by telling you that we are sorry that we spread that virus on Roak, but we were under direct Orders and if we did not obey our planets would have been destroyed by a much more advanced and powerful civilization. They didn't care about the results of spreading the virus, they simply wanted the virus introduced into the planet's population."

"Fearing the worst we decided to make the best of a tragic situation, and we found that the petrified blood of the people on that planet could be used to make our ships invisible. Many in high positions in our government saw that this was the best chance for our civilization to survive should this advance people attack us."

"As for your request we searched all our data banks and even the little these mysterious people told us. The only thing that I can tell you is that the virus originated on Planet Roak, to be precise the virus came from the blood of a supposed Archdemon five hundred years ago. As such it is impossible to obtain blood from the host since he has long been dead."

I knew that I should remain calm, that fear was the little death that brought complete annihilation. I should not let the fear of what would happen to my people influence me, so I turned to the only option left to me and that was pure anger.

"So these mysterious people tell you if you don't obey their request they will destroy your worlds. They tell you to spread a five-hundred-year-old virus, and they don't give you any sort of vaccine to protect yourself from accidental exposure. You then turn around and try to make something from your victims and use it for your own benefit."

I got up from my seat and slammed my fists against the table creating a massive dent on the surface of the table making everyone stare at my bloody hands. "Did it ever occur to you that they planned to test the virus, to later change it so that it affects other races? Did it ever occur to you that they were also testing it on you as you had to release the virus? I know my people are not that advanced, but how stupid do you have to be to see this as a setup?"

"It could be that they planned to use it on your Planets next, or that they themselves wanted the invisible matter you idiots made without the labor or cost to develop. You say that you are sorry, but you say so only to be able to live with you own guilt! You say that you are sorry, but you benefited from doing that to my planet and my people!"

Ilia asked to sit next to her and she began spraying this strange liquid on my hands. The pain stopped and my hands slowly began to stop bleeding and healing. The chief of the station was not by any meaning of the words a spring chicken, he had the wisdom of experience and age, it was easy for me to see that in his looks, and his body language.

"Mr. Farrence I understand you anger and truly had this happen here on Earth I would probably react the same way. I, however, must inform you that since the virus came from your planet, and no foreign matter or technology was introduced into Roak. This, unfortunately, constitutes no violation of the Underdeveloped Planet Protection Pact, the same Pact that all members of the federation are subject to."

"The Lezonia Government has done something despicable, unethical, and for a lack of a better term inhumane, but in the end, they did not break any laws of the federation and such there is only one thing we can do. We will have to quarantine Roak to stop the potential spread of the virus, for the good of the entire federation we will have to seal Roak and we are sorry that you two are going to be the only fellpools left in the galaxy if the spread of the virus continues as our scientist has projected."

Millie had become so quiet and looked so sad that everyone simply chose to end the meeting right there and then. Ronix and Ilia invited us to eat and as the food was placed on the table. Millie finally spoke, "After all this, traveling so far to find a way to save Dorn and our people we find that we can't do anything to help! All our efforts are wasted, and you might as well call our planet the planet of the statue people."

I looked at her and began shaking my head, "It's too soon for us to give up. I might not know what to do since this is pretty much new and confusing to me, but I will not give up. There must be something we can do to correct these wrongs committed against the people of our planet. Don't give up hope Millie, for as long as there is hope we still can find a way!"

I saw Ronix finish his drink and look at me with a smile, "And I just happen to know where to find that way. They said that the virus originated on Roak but five hundred years in the past. During one of our mission we found a strange sentient gate, I believe the guardian will listen to our pleas and will help us find that host of the virus plaguing Roak."

Ilia was not liking this one bit if the way I saw her glare at Ronix told me anything, "Captain you are aware that even traveling to that planet is forbidden. No one may travel to that planet without suffering the consequences."

Ronix looked at her and smiled, "For those that don't know the planet she is talking about is one where on a mission we found a gate, a portal that makes it possible to travel through time. The guardian is the gate itself, only when the gate agrees to help someone it allows a person or a group of people to travel through time. The Planet is called the Planet Styx. It will be the only way for us to find a way to develop a vaccine to the virus that if left unchecked will destroy Planet Roak."

Ilia looked at Millie and then at me, and let out a big sigh, "Why must I be cursed with you being my Captain?" Millie looked at Ronix and then at Ilia, "I am sorry, I guess this is partially our fault for getting you involved in the plague."

Ilia looked at her and she them looked at me and smiled, "Don't worry about it, we promised that we would help you. Just that I don't like this one bit, I don't like to take gambles, and this is a major gamble. We could travel to see the Guardian and for all, we know it could very well deny us passage through time. Meaning we would have broken a law, face a harsh punishment and it would be for nothing."

Ronix began to laugh and I saw him looked at the people sitting around the table. "I don't see a problem at all, I always said, Nothing ventured, Nothing Gained. I think playing around of this particular Russian roulette is worth it for the fate of an entire planet, don't you?"

I saw them discuss basically the plan to steal a ship, Ronix decided to have the crew leave the ship telling them that it needed maintenance. In reality, I heard Ilia tell the crew to take the day off. I walked right by Ilia as the moment finally came, I looked at the man dressed in a strange uniform do a weird looking salute at Ronix.

"Captain Kenny, What are you doing back, sir? We have not received any instructions of the ship receiving any missions. Why are those two from Roak with you, sir?"

Ronix smiled and I wish he would not flat out tell the man the truth, "These two are apparently the last two survivors from Planet Roak, and since it was quarantined they are forbidden from returning. I and Ilia then decided since they can't return it would be a good idea to use the ship computer to provide them with a basic education."

The man began to nod his head in agreement. "Yes, they would be unable to survive in our level of development without a basic education, but I would also suggest that eventually, they receive a complete vaccination workup. There is no telling if Planet Roak had basic preventive medicine."

We all stepped into the ship and we walked towards the bridge. Ilia took control of one strange table with flashing lights and Ronix sat behind one on the opposite side of the row of strange flashing tables. "You don't need to worry you two, most of the things we need to travel through the star ocean is taken care off by the ship computer. You two just need to relax and enjoy the trip."

The trip was not much to enjoy since it was over pretty quickly. Once we were on the surface of Planet Styx, I saw the place was desolate, almost like nothing alive ever lived on the surface of this much-feared world. The gate looked like a large round doorway, and it did give me the impression that it was more than meets the eye, it was pristine white like it had never been dirty.

Ronix stepped towards the stepped that lead to the supposed gate with his arms opened. "Oh, Gatekeeper of Time, I implore thee, we are travelers seeking to right a wrong committed on an innocent race. We can not accomplish this without your aid, Mighty guardian of time. We seek to travel five hundred years into the long ago days of the Planet Roak. We humbly ask you for your aid, Oh Guardian hear our pleas."

I stood almost feeling nervous for some strange reason, Ilia took hold of my hand and held it in hers as a show of support. That was when the gate began to show a light in the center.

"Your request is granted, You must leave all your weapons, armor, and any other items from this time. Once you have done so, you may travel through the gate. I wish thee good fortune in thy endeavors."

Just as we did as the gatekeeper asked I saw Ronix and Millie jump through the light that illuminated the entire opening of the gate, Ilia and I were next but she tripped and thus we ended up jumping a full minute after Ronix and Millie did.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

As soon as I got off the ground I started looking Ilia, doing so made me realize that we were in fact in the forest that used to be part of my village. I kept looking and that is when I found Ilia hiding behind a tree. She immediately came out of hiding once she saw it was me.

"Roddick, good. I was afraid that the time guardian had sent each of our to separate locations. It seems the only two who are missing is the Captain and Millie. You are familiar with this world Roddick, any idea where we are?"

I looked at her and smiled, "Actually we are near my village. The problem is not where we are, but when. We went through the gate a full minute after the others, which I am still trying to figure out what effect had on out little trip through time. The other problem is that we are defenseless."

"We had to leave all weapons, armor, and most items before the Guardian would allow us to travel. The only thing I got with me is my money pouch since the currency apparently never changed. Without armor and weapons we would be easy prey to bandits."

That is when I saw her look down at herself and then at me, "You are right, we need some basic gear or we will not survive long enough to find the Captain or Millie, let alone find the Archdemon. Since you have money I propose you do some recon of the village. They will be more willing to trust you than me."

I decided to go to the place I knew often had most of the news in my village, the village shop. I worked there as a kid, so I knew pretty much how deal, and haggle down a price if needed.

As I walked towards the shop I saw a young woman standing outside the shop. "Excuse, Ms. I hate to bother you, but could you please tell me the current date and time." The young woman was happy to tell me these things as I said goodbye we both ended up going into the shop.

"Oh, you want something from my shop? That is surprising. So tell me young man. What would you need to buy from my humble little shop." I guess she is much older than she looks. I could never tell a woman's age, especially not with what she was wearing.

"Actually I need a pair of sets of armor, one for me and another for a young lady I travel with. Ours apparently were stolen when we went to sleep in our camp." She immediately smiled and had a look that screamed that she knew something was going on outside of the norm.

"Would this young lady you mention be your girlfriend?"

I looked at her and smiled, "Of course she is not my girlfriend, she is my wife. We are a pair of traveling mercenaries after all. I guess we hit the sauce a little too much before we went to sleep. Some bandits made off without weapons and armor. Honestly I need this armor, if only hers. She is hiding somewhere wearing only her sleeping robe."

"I don't want my wife to have to walk through the village wearing that, she is shy after all. Also hates perverts with a vengeance so she might end up killing someone if they see her like that. What can I say? My beloved sure keeps my life interesting."

She laughed as she went towards the back and came back with two large boxes. As she set them down on the counter she looked at me. "Well it is nice to hear a guy be so appreciative and caring to his wife. The first box has a few armors that would fit you, but you need to look through the other one to find one that would fit your wife."

"I am sure you know know your wife's measurements by heart. You are correct about bandits being a constant problem, that is why this village is thinking of starting to train the young folk in our village and form a militia. Since you guys are mercenaries, I decided to cut down the price on the armors to barely nothing, see if your significant other might want to stick around and help train our little militia."

"If you do train them, I might even be able to put you in contact with the local mayors. We are not asking for charity, we will pay you to train our fledgling militia."

Knowing what I know what today was and when we were supposed to have been sent, I began looking for armor for Ilia, try and keep it as decent and as protective as possible. It was not easy, some of the armors were shall we say a little bit more revealing that they should.

I mean come on, the function of a breastplate is to cover her entire chest, but one that cuts just so that the woman wearing it shows a lot and I mean a lot of cleavage is pointless. One poison arrow and that person is done for.

I found a nice armor for her and I took another set but this time in my size for me. "Two of these and do you have any weapon shops?" She smiled at me and began to shake her head. "Sorry, but no we don't have many weapon shops. If you do train our little militia I could talk to our mayor to let you keep the weapon you used to teach our young men and women."

Either she really wanted us to train that militia or this village didn't have any weapon shops yet. Which is pretty funny, I worked at a weapon shop in this village as a child. "I will tell my wife, so how much to I owe you for the armors?"

She smiled and this time I knew that she was up to something, "twenty silver coins, it's not like I would want to take advantage of you in your time of need." I could have gotten the price down, but at this time I didn't have the time and didn't need the potential enemy it would make out of her. I needed the gear that is true, but I also needed contacts.

I paid for the two armors and thanked her for her help and suggestions about potential work in the village.

I walked over to where Ilia was hiding and decided to call for her, "Ilia I got the change of clothes, could you please come and get it. We have a few problems to discuss after you are done changing into your new armor."

She walked up to me and took the package I made containing her armor as I walked back to her. She took it behind the tree and before hiding once again she decided to say something that I found rather funny, she said no peeking. Darn it, that is exactly what I had in mind doing.

Since I could not get to see her undress, I might as well wear my armor too. As soon as I got done, I could only say one thing, this stuff is exactly like the one I wore before the Guardian told me to leave it behind. Which makes no sense, why would the Guardian ask me to leave my armor, if this is appropriate to the time we were traveling to?

Ilia came out and looked at me, "So what problems do you wish to discuss?" Right down to business, got to love a woman who is focused on what needs to be done.

"First I sort of told a local shop owner, the one that sold us these armors, that we were a pair of traveling mercenaries, and that we were in fact not dating since we are married. I told her that to limit the potential of any of the young people around the area hitting on you."

She laughed as I finished saying that, "I got no problem with both of those statements. I see how becoming romantically involved with someone in the past could cause no end of problems when we return to our time. Was there anything else?"

I looked at her and told her she might want to sit down for the next part. "We are currently five years prior to the time Ronix and Millie will show up. We are supposed to travel five hundred years into the past of my world, we are five hundred and five years into the past of my world. I could see that would cause you to worry, but since I did tell them we are mercenaries, we could find some lucrative contracts to build our contacts with the local leaders."

"If we manage to work for a monarch or two we would have access to that king's or queen's intelligence network, their spies as it were. This would make finding our target that much easier."

Ilia got up and began to pace around me, "So it will be just the two of us, for five years by ourselves. You told them we are married, and that means we are expected to sleep, eat and do things that a normal married couple does. Your contact idea is good, but no hanky panky for you. Many may think I am easy due to my friendly nature, but I am not."

"You want to get busy with me like that, you will have to earn it!"

Maybe it was my imagination, but I felt like I unintentionally have insulted Ilia in some way. "The other thing is we have a potential contract since this village is forming a new militia to protect against bandits, and since we are experienced mercenaries, the shopkeeper pretty much said we could be hired to train this militia, or at least the young members of it."

Ilia looked at me and looked at a piece of paper. "I know, she left a note within the armor I am wearing. Something about how lucky I am to have such a considerate husband, and the job offer. Mind telling me what that is about?"

I told her that I took a long time to find an armor set that would keep her safe and still be comfortable. I didn't tell her that my armor was considerably cheaper than hers. "So let's not waste time and go talk to the local Mayor about training those kids. I imagine this would not cause a problem in your world?"

I smiled and nodded my head, "Not a problem at all, this militia eventually becomes my village's Defense Force. The fact that they have this sort of armor, it means they are already thinking about a potential standard armor uniform for the militia."

The mayor actually reminded me of the old man that was head of the Defense Force actually, he had the whole bearded hermit look that the old man had. "So you two are the couple that Annette told me about, something about a married couple that got their things stolen while they slept. This is one reason why we are making the militia you know, so no one near or in our village has to put up with these bandits ever again."

"Since they robbed you, I guess you would not be against helping to make my dream of this militia a reality. Don't you worry, I will get you weapons, and a nice salary for as long as you train the recruits. Now what do you need as a weapon, just asking to be sure to get you the thing you are most comfortable using."

I saw Ilia smile and then she curled her arm, "Weapons, I don't need weapons. I got my fists and they are all I need." Even I thought that was a bit of an exaggeration, but I tried to look like she meant it. I looked at her and smiled, "She ain't kidding, one more reason I fell for her."

The old man began to laugh, "So do you fight with just your fist too?" I looked at him and smiled, he turned pale for some reason. "No, I use symbology and a sword. A good long sword is the only weapon I rather use."

He walked over to the back of his office and moved an old bookcase, in the back there was a long cloth covered thing. He tossed it at me and I caught it. The moment my hand touched it the thing began to burn right through the cloth. It was one of the most scary looking swords I ever seen. The blade was completely black, the edge looked like it was made of burning magma, and the hilt looked like it was carved from a fang.

"So I was right, that old thing been in my family for years. Nobody has ever been able to use it. I couldn't touch it if it wasn't for the cloth. That sword is damn picky, and temperamental let me tell you. My ancestor won it in a fist fight long ago, but that thing will not let anyone it doesn't like do as much as touch it."

I began to plan out the training program that night, the Mayor was nice enough to provide me and Ilia with a rather nice residence. It sure didn't help that it was the building that would one day be the headquarters of the village's defense force. The other part is that since I told them we were man and wife, well there was only one large bed.

I respected Ilia far to much to try and take liberties with her, so it was decided that she would sleep under the covers and I would sleep on top. If someone ever peeked and asked why we did that we decided to tell that it was a means to prevent unplanned pregnancies. We would tell them that getting the militia training program established came first, that we don't leave things to chance when work is involved.

As I closed my eyes I saw Ilia asleep, and as I tried to fall asleep I wished her happy dreams.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

I woke up the next day I wish I could say refreshed, but I couldn't. I actually was fighting a very big urge to scream my head off as I woke up, but that would cause Ilia to wake up. Why was I feeling the need to scream you ask? Well, Ilia when she was asleep somehow grabbed me by the tail and let's say that I woke up because she apparently thought it was a particularly hairy piece of bacon and she was hungry in her dream.

I don't know about other species out in the star ocean, but fellpool have very sensitive tails and having someone bite your tail is really painful. Well from now on I just need to figure a way to keep my tail from her reach. I guess I could tie it around my waist, no that wouldn't work. As I sleep it could come lose.

Alright there was only one thing to do then, sleep wearing a pair of pants, and keep my tail from getting out of those pants, I guess it was my fault for sleeping in just my underwear, but with the heat who would blame me.

"Morning Ilia, did you sleep well?" Ilia looked at me and smiled.

"Oh, I slept just find Roddick what is this thing I am holding, it feels like a some rather nice, soft fur."

I couldn't help but to smile as she said that, to me it was a rather nice compliment after all. I tried to look as calm as possible.

"Ilia, not to sound disrespectful or anything, but the thing you are holding is my tail." I don't know why she started to laugh as she let go off my tail. She must have found our situation rather funny.

"Most guys want to get a hold of my tail, and our first night sleeping together I end up grabbing yours instead. I guess you figured out why I didn't date for long. I tend to be rather clingy when someone is in bed with me."

I rather liked the way she was looking right now, her face is usually what I could say is beautiful, but when she blushes like she is now the only way I can describe is cute. "It's just that when you hold my tail so tightly, it can be rather painful. I guess you unintentionally found out the weak spot for my kind."

I got off bed and began dressing, I went to the kitchen to give her some privacy to change into her clothes and to make breakfast for us. She came into the kitchen and sat down as I had already prepared two plates for us.

"Today we begin training the militia, if we do a good enough of a job we might even become famous enough to get some work requests sent our way. We need to build a reliable network of contacts so that when Ronix and Millie show up we will have it easier to find our target."

She listened as she began to eat the food I prepared, I guess learning to cook from mom was not such a waste of time after all. She looked like she was really enjoying my cooking, and that gave me a nice warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

"I agree, we need to be ready for when the Captain and Millie show up, which brings me to a question I need to ask. What kind of a relationship you and Millie have?"

I nearly choked when she asked me that, I had to drink some water. "Millie is my cousin, she is the daughter of my aunt. We are practically brother and sister. Where did that question come from?"

She looked rather amused as I looked at her and took a drink of water before smiling at me, "I was just wondering if she would be upset that we slept in the same bed that's all. I have to admit that when you are embarrassed like that you look adorable."

I looked at her and smiled decided to do something similar to her, "Well you look so beautiful when you are asleep, I almost want to kiss you but that would wake you. Ready for the first days of training these greenhorns, or am I the only one that is looking forward to their complaining."

I was not wrong they did complain an awful lot, and by midday I had beaten half a dozen of the recruits that demanded I fight them on a duel. I showed them no mercy, for bandits and other criminals would show them even less than that.

The schedule we came up with was simple, we work their bodies till they can't stand anymore, and then we worked to improve their minds. As they days went by the complaining became less and less, and the recruits began to look more and more like a force able to protect the village. It was supposed to take us a year to get them ready for patrols.

Ilia and I got them ready in two months, and the chief of the village was smiling as he saw the results. Now that the first batch of recruits was trained, and sent on their initial patrols. It was only a matter of time before the results of our training became evident.

We had gotten so used to living together in that time, that we didn't even leave the room when changing clothes, or even be bothered in doing each other's laundry. I even got used to washing each other's backs when we sometimes took a bath together.

The negative aspect was that I was always paying attention to what Ilia said, which had the negative consequence of some of the housewives in the village calling me whipped. Their husbands could only smile at me and give me a sympathetic look when their significant other was not looking.

The results of the initial patrols were nothing less than amazing, they stopped two bandit groups, rescued three women from slavers, and even fought off a crook that tried to steal merchandise from the village supplier.

"Roddick I must say I am impressed that you managed to turn my dream into a reality so soon. As a bonus you can keep the house you are living with your wife, with the people in the force they can pretty much take care of training the new recruits, I am certain that they will follow the example you taught them."

"As of right now both of you are free to look for more work, I would prefer if you considered this village your home village though, the people for some reason feel a lot safer when you and your wife are around."

I laughed as the man said that, "They do, do they? Does that include the time when those teens tried to get shall we say fresh with her?" He laughed as I said that and for good reason. Some of the village teens tried to flirt with her, and even tried to touch her. That did not end well for them, a few broken bones, and concussions later they knew well to leave her be while training the troops.

"Can you possibly blame them? Your wife is really beautiful. If I wasn't happily married myself, I would even try to get a date or two with her myself." I could not help but to smile the way as I saw the look the Chief's wife was giving him.

"And if you did that I might need we would be holding your funeral. Ilia is beautiful as a rose, but those beautiful roses do have thorns. My wife is shall we say very much into maintaining a faithful relationship. What work did you manage to find for us?"

The man looked quite happy to hear that I was switching topics away from shall we say dangerous topics. "I actually found that there is a merchant that been having trouble with his supply convoy as of late. The man supplies our militia with weapons and armor, so you can tell why we are concerned if the man can't move his merchandise from one place to another."

A typical Escort mission, I saw no problem with that. Considering what we have gone through training the recruits, this was as easy as it comes. "Give me the details of the merchant and I will discuss it with my wife. If she agrees we will take care of the situation for him."

The Chief smiled and nodded his head, "You really are whipped, guess I am not one to say that since I am too. The merchant in question is the village merchant that sells, buys and repairs armor and weapons. The problem is that he was expected to get a shipment of new weapons and armor, but you know how shall we say bandit friendly the valley between this village and the next is."

"Don't you worry Chief, I am sure my dearly beloved will agree after I tell her we are fighting a few dozen bandits. My lovely wife does enjoy a challenge."

As it happens Ilia was walking into the building as we had been discussing the bandit problem, and she was indeed happy to hear that we had a chance to beat the living daylights out that bunch of idiots. For some reason, she was blushing as she agreed to take care of the problem and make sure that the trade route was taken care off.

As we walked out of the office I saw her smile as she held my arm pulling me close to her as we walked. "Roddick I know we don't know each other for that long, but I got to admit you know how to make a woman like me happy. Never imagined that this would happen, but I wouldn't trade this life for anything in the entire star ocean."

I smiled as she told me that, "Funny thing is I feel the same way, We still got a few years to wait till my cousin and the Captain show up. Can you imagine the look on their faces if they find us not only happily married and maybe with a kid or two?"

She punched me in the arm and pulled me close enough to give me a rather heated kiss on my lips. As the kiss ended she placed her head on my shoulder. "If you can't tell, I am rather happy to be with you. The only thing is, you need to be careful buster or I might just take you up on your offer to have a couple of kids. We certainly have a big enough of a house, and we aren't hurting for money either."

The bandits were actually mercenaries hired by a business rival. Ilia and I took care of them rather quickly and truth be told we found out everything about their little operation thanks to scaring them so much. I guess I would be scared too if a woman wearing metal boots told me to tell her everything about what I was doing or else she would kick my balls so hard they would replace my eyes.

The idiots were not paid much, in fact, they were working for the merchandise they been stealing. They did say something odd, they never intended to actually kill anyone. Beat up, sure, but actually kill them never even crossed their minds. I know I look young, but not even I am that gullible.

The route was made secure by us going to the supposed business rival and finding out he was nothing more than a con-artist. The idiot didn't even own a shop! He had a stand by the road and all his gear was next to worthless. That made me realize why exactly he wanted the shop in the village we called home ruined. As long as that shop exists, nobody and I mean nobody would buy his junk.

We could have gotten him to pay up for the things he had stolen, we could even have forgiven him and made him promise in writing to never do this again, but I was too upset to even think about doing any of that at the time. Why was I so upset you ask? Simple, the idiot called an armor plated bimbo. Nobody, and I mean Nobody insults and gets away with it."

I decided that it was high time we visited the ruler of the land both villages resided in. She was a very kind person, and apparently just by mentioning who we were she actually was quite happy to grant us and audience. We told her of the mercenaries, the stinking crook, and how our village weapon supplier had trouble because of that crook's activities.

She immediately did what I felt she would do, she ordered the crook be taken to prison, be given fifty lashes with a whip made from a chain it seems and then decapitated. With that kind of punishment, it would certainly serve to discourage anyone from trying to do that again.

Now the reason why she was so happy was simple, she had been having problems with a certain pirate group that loved to raid the ports in her lands. Hearing who we were made her happy because in a sense we found our next job, she wanted us to take care of the pirate problem. Their activities were making merchants pay more for basic food items, and such there were fifteen villages suffering from hunger.

I guess not many villages were self-sufficient like the one we lived on was, the only things we actually needed to resupply was the weapons and armor, the village pretty much took care of everything else be it medicine or food. "Don't you worry none, your majesty, we shall take care of these pirates post haste."

"Oh thank you, I been having trouble sleeping because of the trouble these loathsome pirates cause my people. I hope you realize how lucky you are to have such a considerate husband young lady." smiled and pulled me closer to her till she had an arm around my waist.

"Don't you worry your majesty, I know exactly how fortunate it I am. Now if only I could convince him that we can do this sort of work and have a couple of kids." I don't know why this made both of them laugh as she finished saying that, honestly I don't know why.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

If you asked me now I could probably tell you the past five years have been the best in my entire life. Ilia and I couldn't be closer and we really didn't even need to fake being married anymore since the Queen decided to actually register our marriage. She chalked it off to us being too busy to do the paperwork for that so she decided to do it herself.

At first, she was shocked to get a signed marriage license in the mail, but as time went by we simply got used to each other, and not only in the emotional or living together either. I knew she had a smoking hot body, but after our supposed delayed honeymoon I realized that she was far more experienced at this than me.

Some guys always say that they want to say that they made their lovers feel like they been to heaven and back again, I felt that way after five minutes of making the sweetest love I ever felt in my entire life and I could feel like that with a simple gesture from her or a kiss on a good morning.

"So today is the day your cousin, and the Captain show up. Are you ready to explain what we been doing?" I looked at her and smiled as I saw her blushing face.

"I have nothing to hide, we been building connections and doing the preparations for our real mission. We can begin to hunt for that Archdemon in earnest thanks to the connections and resources we have gathered. As for personal, I have nothing to hide. I love you Ilia and let's face it, I am very happy to be your husband. The only question is are you happy being my wife?"

She punched my shoulder and she leaned close to me as we waited for the others to appear. "I am perfectly happy in my marriage and I could never imagine my life without you. I guess it's a good thing we have three rooms in our house. The only problem I see in the near future is the Captain, I don't know how he will take the news that I am off the market as it were."

I held her body close to mine by putting my arms around her, "You snooze, You lose. It's as simple as that, he had plenty of chances to win your affections. It's not my fault that we decided to put in the effort to make our relationship as stable as it is."

Just as she turned around and was about ready to kiss me I could feel the air change a little. We turned around and saw a giant opening appear and two people fell out of the sky. "Guess that how we got sent back, You catch my cousin, I will catch the Captain."

We both jumped into action and we both caught them before they hit the ground hard. "Roddick, Ilia what is the meaning of this?" I looked at the Ronix as he looked at us, I guess these past years made some changes in our looks if they way he was looking at us was any indication.

"We got sent five years before you, Ilia and I been working to do the prep work for our Archdemon hunt. Come on Ronix, stand up. We got a few things to discuss, but don't worry we got a nice home ready so we actually have a nice private place for you and Millie to catch up."

Millie was staring daggers at Ilia and I could tell she actually noticed the ring on her left hand. I guess it's partially my fault. We got so used to wearing our wedding bands that we actually don't feel them anymore.

As we walked into the village we saw some of our former recruits, they were smiling as they saw us and our friends walk home. That is when two of them actually said something that made Ronix and Millie stop in their tracks. "It is always nice to see the Captain and his wife come home to the village. I wish I was as happy with my husband as she is."

Talk about an embarrassing scene, there we were walking into our home and she just had to say that. What our friends didn't know was this very same lady tried to seduce me once four years ago. Ilia pretty much told her oddly so bad that she mistook her training as a challenge. I had to remind her that she joined the Defense Force to keep the people of the village safe and that I was very much happily married.

"So Roddick why did that lady say that both of you are married? To me, it was only a few seconds ago since we all jumped into the time portal. I noticed several people greet you like they knew about both of you for a long time. Care to explain?"

As soon as we walked into our living room and we all sat down I looked at the Captain. "Ronix to you it might have been a few seconds between us jumping into the gate, but I reality we lived in this village and worked hard for the last five years. Initially, I made the excuse that we were husband and wife to keep her safe, I mean a beauty like her is not someone you find every day."

Ilia blushed as she heard me say that, "But little by little the lie became true, and we have lived as husband and wife for the last four years. It has been the happiest four years of my entire life, sure at first was a little getting used to, but that is no different for any married couple."

Millie looked at her and then at me, and she kept pointing at our hands. "So let me get this straight, you two pretended to be married, but eventually you did actually get married and have lived as a married couple for four years, does that mean that you been a married couple in all things?"

I never liked it when someone made the love of my life embarrassed, and this was my cousin asking my wife point blank range if we actually slept with each other. "We are married, we lived together, slept together and it was only thanks to a lot of discipline and hard work that we actually don't have any kids. Does that answer you rude question cousin? Or do I need to draw you a diagram?"

Ilia looked at them, still blushing, she apologized for my little outburst. "Roddick tends to act this way when someone asks something that is a little too personal, we been together in good and bad, for illness and health, for richer or poor, I love him with all my heart and he loves me. If you want more proof let me show you our wedding picture."

She walked over to the bookshelf behind them and took a framed picture off the wall near it. She walked up to them and placed the frame on the table in the middle of our living room. I still remember the day that picture was taken, and more importantly how happy she looked wearing that dress the Queen let us borrow.

"So you two got married, what did you two actually do to help us find the Archdemon? I would like to remind you that is the entire reason why we asked the guardian to let us travel in time after all." I looked at him and I silently thanked him for changing the subject of our little discussion.

"Ilia and I been gathering resources and making contacts, I think I told you two that already. We did mostly mercenary work for large companies, members of royalty and some very important trade cities. From what those people that spread that virus on Roak, they pretty much said that this year is when the people who obtained the virus took it from the Archdemon."

"The plan is simple, we will go around do mercenary work and ask if anything like the thing that happened on Roak is happening anywhere else. We will slowly travel and as we gather information on the possible location of the Archdemon, we will slowly narrow down the location and gather the much-needed allies we will need, how does that sound Ronix?"

I had to agree that Ilia had a good plan, then again she was always the brains in our relationship. "Why would we need allies?" Millie asked and when she asks things like this that made me wonder if we are actually related."

"Millie the Archdemon is more than likely surrounded by an army of his followers. The word Archdemon sound more than anything a title, which means he is pretty high in the demonic hierarchy. If we go at it with just the four of us we will fail, we need people that can do the things we can't do ourselves, I can fight and so can Ilia, your symbology skills should be better, but you never actually spent enough time training them to be that effective."

"Ronix can fight too, but I think his tactical skills are what will be of most use, we need mages, healers, long range fighters, and people who know more about the world of this time period. Four people against the archdemon is an impossible task, but with the right allies we will succeed."

I just kept drinking tea while Ilia pretty much told Millie that she was a member of her family and she should just get used to it. Ronix looked at me and told me to follow him into the kitchen. I, of course, didn't want to be a poor host, and he was technically the leader of this particular mission.

"So let me get this straight, you and Executive Officer have been married for a little over four years, now I need to ask you, what in the universe were you thinking? You must realize that she has a very dominant personality, she wants things done her way and will not accept any other way. How and I mean how did you two manage to live together for this long, let alone being married?"

I looked at him and couldn't figure what he was going on about, I mean I been very happy in my marriage and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the entire universe. "We talk, most of the ideas she has are actually better than mine, and we sometimes compromise. Like for the fact that I didn't want to have kids, that technically would be five hundred years old when we go back to our own time."

Ronix was clearly worried about something, it just that he wasn't being very clear what that something was, "Look, Roddick, we dated for a few months a long time ago, we got into so many arguments and fights that we finally decided to break it off, you do know that she can't cook worth a damn right? I wouldn't feed her food to my worst enemy, that is how horrible her cooking is."

I looked at him as I held a knife in my hand, "So what? Who do you think does the cooking around here? Where does it say the wife must be the one to cook the meals in the home? I can cook, mend clothes and even knit. I, in fact, prefer that she lets me cook. It's a good stress relief for me."

I walked over to the counter and began to cut up some fish we kept in the ice box and began to marinate it in my special blend. Ronix just kept looking at me as I cooked and just stood there with his mouth open.

I made a nice fish dish for the main dish, some potatoes and gravy for a side dish and a light salad. Ronix kept picking at the potatoes, till I slapped his hand and told him to help me take the food to the dining room.

As we carried the food I saw Millie blush three shades of red, Ilia looked pretty happy with the outcome of their little talk. "Come on people, we better eat. Wait till you eat the food my husband makes, I never ate better in my entire life."

Millie looked at it and looked at me, "So you are still making the food your mom taught you. Do you ever try to invent new recipes, or try to learn new ones?" I must say that I felt insulted as she said that.

"I will have you know that dish is a recipe I learned while living in this village while I helped the mayor's wife cook when she was sick last year. Why don't you sit down and taste it, before you start passing judgments on it?"

Ronix was at least polite enough to taste my food before he started to criticize. What's the deal with my cousin? We haven't seen each other in years, and the first thing she does is criticize my cooking, she used to love the things I made for our family holiday get together.


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

Millie and Ronix took the spare bedroom, she was actually happy they each got their own beds. I didn't hate the heart to tell them we actually bought those beds and we slept on them for a year, before I realized that I wanted to be closer to Ilia. As we lived together that one year I realized she was everything I could ever want in a spouse.

As we climbed into our bed she looked at me and she snuggled closer to me, we had done it so many times it was almost a routine for us, "Roddick what do you think will happen once we find the Archdemon and we get the blood we need to make the cure? Will you probably want to restart your life on your Planet? What would that mean for us?"

I could see that this possibility was really worrying her, "Ilia I don't want to think about the possibility that we would have to go our own separate ways, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, have some kids, grow old together, and eventually have some grandchildren of our own. When I said till death do us part, I actually meant that only death would take me from your side."

Tears began to flow down her face and she smiled, "I feel the same way Roddick, it just makes me feel so happy hearing you say that. Once this mission is over, who knows, maybe we can use the Underdeveloped Planet Protection Pact and you could work on a ship with me, or we could start a business together."

I placed my arms pulling her closer, "I only know that where ever I am, you are the only woman I want to share my life with." She actually laughed as she gave me a quick kiss on the lips. She even said what if we have daughters?

I always get a nice night's sleep when Ilia is by my side. I realized ever since she slept in the same bed as I did something I never did before, my bed without her is simply cold, and I never realized how lonely I was. Like always I got up bright and early, I went to the kitchen and began making breakfast.

The sounds of me cooking probably were what woke up Millie and Ronix as they came tumbling into the kitchen. Ronix looked a bit distracted, "The coffee pot is on the table, so is the sugar bowl. Get yourselves a cup while I finish what I am cooking."

Millie instead of sitting on the chair when towards me and looked at me with a suspicious look on her face, "Since when you do you cook? You never cooked anything with your mom." I told her Ilia and I both took turns in taking care of household chores, today it simply was the day that I did the cooking, and Ilia would take care of the dish washing."

Ronix was sitting down with his cup of coffee and he looked at me, "You have really changed in the time you been with my Executive Officer. I have to tell you I am still getting used to the fact that Ilia got married and has been living with you. You two been married for so long I would not be surprised if you had kids."

I looked at him for a second as I finished making breakfast, it was nothing too complicated. "I believe my beloved wife told you we actually took precautions. We made sure that our kids would be born in our time, let's face it, in they don't even have doctors. Most they have is a midwife or a healer. I also think that death during childbirth is not that uncommon in this world."

Ronix began to nod his head and Millie could not help to simply stare are Roddick, "So tell me what are we having for breakfast?" He walked over and placed the food in a large bowl and a plate. It was easy to see, it was eggs and hash. He also made a light salad.

"Now if you will excuse me, I need to wake up my wife." I walked over to our bedroom and she was still very much asleep. I leaned closer and whispered in her ear that it was time to wake up, when she didn't wake up I kissed her on her lips. That got her to wake up.

"Why good morning Roddick, did you finish making breakfast?" I told her I did and it was getting cold, or worse Millie and Ronix were eating it all. She told me it would take her a second the get ready I began walking back to our friends, who in fact were having just a cup of coffee each.

"She will be out for a few seconds. Any coffee left?" Ronix laughed as he told me that they only took two cups. I sat down and served myself a cup. I put in it some sugar, and looked at them, Millie was still looking at me with a funny look on her face.

"So Roddick you been married for four years, what else have you been doing?" I took a sip from my coffee cup and looked at them, I couldn't believe that I had to say this to my cousin. I mean it's not like we spent every second just in this village. We made preparations for our time to find and get the blood sample from the Arch Demon.

"Most of the times at first we helped with the formation of this village's defense force, and then as it turns out they really took to our training schedule and methods. We then took different mercenary jobs for different people. We made contacts, gathered resources, and even hired some people to get everything ready for you two to show up."

"It's not like we had a four-year honeymoon, we were actually pretty busy. In fact, I plan to go and ask for an audience with this nation's Queen to ask her if there was any news about the Arch demon or if there was some unusual civil unrest."

Ilia got to where we were and she was wearing her typical outfit consisting of a standard defense force gear. I looked at her and she smiled at me, she walked up to me and kissed me on my cheek, "Thanks for making breakfast. You know you are right, we should ask the Queen if there was anything strange going on. If nothing strange is happening it might be a good opportunity to introduce our two friends here to her and we might get some work."

I got up and began serving everyone breakfast, me being the last one to finally sit down and eat. "I have hurt cousin, you know there is no poison in that food." I began eating mine while Millie poked her food with a fork expecting it to jump at her. When she finally saw me eat she began eating hers.

"You can't expect me not to be surprised Roddick, how many times have you ever cooked anything when we were growing up? That would be never. So tell me cousin who taught you how to cook? I know my mother taught me."

I looked at Ilia and then looked at Ronix, "I was taught how to cook by the wife of the village chief. I also know how to take care of a baby, clean, wash and mend clothing thank you very much."

Ronix just kept looking at us as he finished his breakfast and was having a second cup of coffee. "So what kind of relationship do you have with this country's monarch?" That made me almost choke on my food as he said that. Ilia began patting me on my back to help me recover.

"Our relationship with the Queen is simple, we sometimes work for her, and we did introduce her to her captain of her royal guard. Ronix I know you might be feeling disappointed that I never considered marrying you, and that I and Roddick are married but believe me my husband is faithful to me and I am faithful to him."

As we got to the castle a large trumpet was heard, I really hate when they have to introduce us like that to the rest of the people in the throne room. "Lord and Lady Farrence here for an audience with her royal majesty, do you approve?"

The Queen simply moved her hand telling us to approach, if I could have a picture of the look on Ronix and Millie's face I could literately remember this day forever. As we walked towards the throne room we both bowed to show our respect to the Queen, I also had to punch Ronix in the gut to get him to bow since he clearly forgot his manners.

"I must apologize to you, your majesty, my cousin and her husband had no experience being in the presence of royalty before today, I apologize for their lack of manners and decorum." She smiled and looked at me and Ilia.

"I wouldn't worry about it Roddick, but I have to admit it is nice to see you remain as respectful as the day we first met, I hope you and your lovely wife are doing alright? I was not expecting to see you for at least three months, till the annual defense force meeting."

Ronix decided to put his hand up to ask permission to ask a question, which the Queen is the friendly person she did permit. "Excuse me but why did that man introduce them as Lord and Lady? Aren't they commoners like the rest of your nation?"

She began shaking her head, "Young man, they are called by such titles because they have in fact earned them, and are considered nobles in my nation. The efforts of Roddick to improve the defenses of one village have spread through out my nation, each village has a defense force which follows his training methods."

"Piracy and other harmful crimes are down, and people especially merchants feel safer than ever in these last four years. Crime had been a terrible thing in my realm, but since his efforts in his village, this realm has gone from being one of the worst places to live to one of the best. I imagine he never told you that he and his beloved wife are nobles, they always are so humble, a true example to nobles everywhere."

I looked at the look of utter shock on the good Captain's face and my cousin seems to be having trouble closing her mouth. "We came to your majesty because we believe that a new danger is possibly headed our way, this time of a demonic nature. There have been signs that something is not quite right, the dry season lasts longer, and the ice melts sooner than normal."

She began to nod her head, "Yes, my own advisers have told me as much, and as it happens we were sending letters to the other kingdoms around the world, had you not told me what you did, I would never believe what I heard from the furthest kingdom from our borders. Roddick tell me honestly do you think it's possible that a high ranking demon is trying to invade our world?"

That is exactly what we needed to hear, Ilia jumped at the chance, "Yes, your Majesty. I do believe that this will be the second time one of their kind invades our world, an Arch Demon has started another invasion. My husband is a great student of history, and that is why he made such efforts in preparing the defense force."

The Queen looked at me and got off her throne to come closer to me, "So you believed that this demon invasion would happen like in the old tales? Why would you think that?" I told her that history repeats, everyone in the room around us began to laugh like I said a joke, but I was dead serious about it. The Queen knew that I was not joking at all.

"Very well Roddick, as two of our most skilled warriors I commission you to find this Arch Demon and put an end to his invasion as soon as possible, I shall write a letter for you, this will tell other Monarchs the severity of the situation and urge them to provide you with as much aid as possible. While you are gone we shall remain and strength our forces, should it be necessary to provide you with some additional support."

I looked at her and bowed, "It shall be done, your Majesty. By your leave, we shall begin to head to our nearest neighboring kingdom, they might have more information regarding this demonic invasion or a way for us to secure travel to cross the ocean. We need to reach the realm where that letter came as soon as possible."

As soon as we actually managed to get to the port, the people knew of what me and Ilia had done in the past and let's just say we have earned quite a bit of fame because of it, the people that saw us wanted to either thank us or for us to sign an autograph, I didn't even know such a thing existed five hundred years before I was even actually born.

As we reached the boat, Ronix and Millie were both looking rather upset, "And when were you planning to tell us you two are actually nobles? That was one surprise I didn't expect Ilia, and Roddick why did the queen referee to her as Lady Farrence?" I guess Ronix wanted the answer to that sooner than Millie, or she was simply too embarrassed to ask.

"Captain we were introduced to the royal court by our legal married names. I do not think you have actually been listening to us, we are legally married, and have been for quite some time. As to the reason why we didn't mention of our noble status is that we actually don't think it's that important, we don't think about it much truth be told."

I sat down on one of the seats in the waiting area, Millie was looking at me with this unmistakable took on her face. The way her ears were and the condition of her fur was screaming at me that she was almost rabid with anger. "So you two are actually married, here I was thinking that you two had used that as an excuse or something. You know that she and the Captain at one point were dating right?"

I still don't see why she was so upset about, "Yes I know that Ronix and her had been dating for a little bit before we met, and they actually had ended that relationship a few months before we met. I know Ilia and she knows me, we don't keep secrets from each other, as any good marriage should."

Ilia was looking at me and sat right next to me, I guess she has been with me long enough to know when I am not having an easy time.


End file.
